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  • HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List — Family History Video Projects

    Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List — Family History Video Projects

    Before we touch any software, we need stuff. Not much stuff, but the right stuff. I've put this in two tiers: what you actually need to start, and what's nice once you know you like doing this. Don't buy tier two before you've finished one project. Most people never need it.

    Tier 1: Budget / What You Actually Need

    A working computer. Doesn't need to be new or fast. If it can run a web browser without groaning, it'll probably run free editing software. Check before class if you can — we'll troubleshoot day one, not day three.

    External hard drive, at least 1TB. This is the one thing on this list I won't let you skip. You are backing up your original footage and photos before you edit anything, full stop. A drive runs $50–$70 most places, and Costco usually has a decent one in the electronics aisle if you're doing a supply run anyway. Buy two if you can swing it — one stays at your house, one goes somewhere else (a sibling's house, a safe deposit box, wherever). If your house burns down or your drive dies, one copy in one place doesn't save you.

    A way to digitize old media. If you've got mini DV tapes, VHS, or old photos, you'll need either a capture device (search "VHS to digital converter" — they run $30–$40) or a flatbed scanner for photos. Some libraries and camera shops will digitize for you for a fee if you'd rather not deal with the cables. I did mine myself the hard way. You don't have to.

    Headphones. Any pair you already own. You'll be listening for audio problems, and you cannot hear them over your laptop's built-in speaker. This isn't optional, it's just cheap.

    A notebook. Actual paper, or a notes app, whatever you'll use. You're going to log names, dates, file names, and export settings, and you will not remember any of it in three weeks. I still have mine from four years ago.

    Tier 2: Nice-to-Have

    A dedicated USB microphone. If you're recording new interviews with relatives, a $30–$50 USB mic beats your laptop mic by a lot. Audio is the thing people actually notice, so this is the first upgrade worth making once you've got a project or two under your belt.

    A tripod or phone stand. Steadies your interview shots. Doesn't need to be fancy. Even a stack of books works in a pinch, I've done it.

    Extra storage. Once you've got the bug, you'll want more room. A second external drive, or cloud storage if you trust it more than I do.

    A better computer monitor. Only if you're doing this a lot. Editing on a bigger screen is easier on your eyes, but it's the last thing to buy, not the first.

    Shopping notes

    For the hard drive and cables, Costco or any of the electronics stores near the point of the mountain will have what you need without a special order. You don't need the salesperson to sell you anything — a plain external drive is a plain external drive.

    For the capture device, I'd order online rather than drive around hunting one down. They're generic enough that reviews matter more than the store.

    Don't buy editing software. We're using something free, and I promise you will not hit its limits in this class. If you do, that's a good problem to have and we'll talk about it then.

    Bring what you've got to session one — even if it's a shoebox of unlabeled photos and a "we'll see" attitude about the rest. That's most of what walks in the door, mine included.

  • HandoutHandout 2: Cheat Sheet — Core Techniques & Settings

    Handout 2: Cheat Sheet — Core Techniques & Settings

    Keep this one by your keyboard. It's the stuff I have to look up too, so I wrote it down. Now you don't have to.

    Before You Touch the Editor

    • Back up the originals first. Two copies, minimum, on two different things (external drive plus cloud, or external drive plus a second drive). Editing is the fun part. Backing up is the part that actually protects the footage. Do it in that order every time.
    • Name your files like you'll need to find them in five years. Not "video_final_2." Try 1998_grandpa_backyard_raw.mov. Boring name, future you says thank you.
    • Check orientation before you cut anything. I edited an entire sideways video once before I noticed. Look at it full-screen first. Thirty seconds now saves you a redo later.

    Digitizing Old Tape or Film

    • Camcorder or old tape deck to computer: you need a capture device with the right cable (usually FireWire or composite/RCA into a USB converter). If you're not sure what you have, bring it to class and we'll figure it out together.
    • Let it capture in real time. There's no fast way to do this. Put on a podcast.
    • If audio and picture won't sync no matter what you do, the tape may just be damaged. I fought this for two weeks once before admitting it. Some things you can't fix. Move on.

    Export Settings I Actually Use

    These are the numbers I trust, written down so I don't have to relearn them every time (I keep mine next to my bread temperatures — same journal, don't judge me):

    • Resolution: 1080p is plenty for family video. You don't need 4K for old home movies. It won't make grainy 1994 footage look new, it'll just make it a bigger grainy file.
    • Format: MP4, H.264 codec. Plays on nearly everything — phones, smart TVs, email attachments if it's short enough.
    • Frame rate: match whatever your source footage was shot at. Don't guess, check the file info.
    • File size reality check: if your export is pushing 8-9 GB for a ten-minute video, your settings are off. That's the mistake that taught me this whole section.

    Audio (Read This Twice)

    People forgive blurry pictures. They will not sit through video they can't hear. If you only have time to fix one thing, fix the audio.

    • Cut wind noise and hum before you worry about color or transitions.
    • If old audio is warbly or half-gone, sometimes the honest move is to lower it under a text caption instead of forcing it to sound clean. Let it be what it is.

    Don't Fix What the Footage Is Telling You

    Grainy old video looks like old video. That's fine. That's what it is. Trying to sharpen and color-correct 1994 tape into something that looks like it was shot yesterday just makes it look wrong, like a bad filter. I'd rather you leave it honest.

    Keep It Short

    You are not required to use every clip because you have it. A four-minute video people actually finish beats a forty-minute one that sits unwatched. Cut more than feels comfortable. Then cut a little more.

    When You're Stuck

    Write down what happened, what you tried, and what the error said (if there was one). Bring it next class. I keep a running log of the weird problems people hit — turns out most of us hit the same three or four things. You're probably not the first.

  • WorksheetHandout 3: Backup & File Naming Checklist

    Handout 3: Backup & File Naming Checklist

    Before you touch the editor. I mean it. This is the boring part and it's the part I'll actually check on.

    ---

    Step 1: Back Up Your Originals

    Do this before anything else gets edited, cropped, or "just quickly fixed."

    • [ ] Copy raw files to at least two separate places (external drive, cloud storage, a second computer — pick two)
    • [ ] Confirm the copies actually opened and played, not just that they copied
    • [ ] Label the backup drive/folder with today's date
    • [ ] Write down where both backups live:

    Backup 1: _______________________

    Backup 2: _______________________

    If you only do one thing from this whole course, do this. I've said it in class already and I'll say it again here so it's on paper: the editing is the fun part and the least important part. Lose the originals and there's no version of this project that gets fixed later. There's no later.

    Step 2: Name Your Files Like a Person Who Wants to Find Them Again

    Nobody regrets doing this. Everybody regrets not doing it.

    • [ ] Rename each raw clip or photo with something specific — date, event, person. Not "video_final_2."

    Example: 1994_grandpa_birthday_livingroom.mov

    • [ ] Create one folder per project. Not per week, not "misc."
    • [ ] Inside that folder, separate raw footage from anything you've started editing
    • [ ] If you don't know the date, write your best guess and a question mark: ~1995?_unknown_house.jpg. A guess you can correct later beats nothing.

    Step 3: Quick Check Before You Start Editing

    • [ ] Play each file all the way through once. Note orientation (sideways happens more than you'd think — ask me how I know)
    • [ ] Note anything with damaged audio or video now, before you build a whole timeline around it
    • [ ] Note any file that won't open. Deal with it before it becomes tomorrow's problem

    Step 4: Notes and Context

    This is the part people skip and regret most. Photos and tapes with no writing on them are how this whole class started for me — a shoe box of tapes and a bag of photos nobody could identify. Don't let your family become someone else's shoe box.

    For each item, jot down anything you know or can guess:

    File nameWho's in itApprox. dateHow I know / who to ask

    Even "the old guy in the brown chair" counts as information. Write down what you actually know, in the words you'd actually use. You can clean it up later. You can't invent it later.

    ---

    Before next class: bring your backed-up, renamed footage on a drive or accessible in the cloud. If it's not backed up yet, that's fine — but say so, and we'll sort it out before you open an editing program. I'd rather spend ten minutes on this now than watch someone lose a grandparent's only video because we skipped ahead.

  • HandoutHandout 4: Troubleshooting Guide

    Handout 4: Troubleshooting Guide

    You will hit at least three of these. Everybody does. None of them mean you're bad at this.

    1. My video plays sideways or upside down

    Check this before you edit a single clip, not after. I learned that one the hard way and redid an entire project because of it. Most phones and cameras record orientation data that doesn't always translate when you move the file. Fix it at import, in your project settings, not by cutting the video wrong for twenty minutes and hoping.

    2. My export file is huge and won't play on Mom's phone

    This happened to me on my first real export — a 9GB file that just sat there refusing to open. It's almost always the export settings, not your footage. Use a standard resolution (1080p is plenty) and a common format like MP4. Write your settings down somewhere once you find ones that work. I keep mine in my journal, next to bread temperatures, honestly.

    3. Old audio won't sync with old footage

    Sometimes it's your workflow. Sometimes the tape is just damaged and no amount of nudging will fix it. I spent two weeks once trying to force a sync that was never going to happen. If you've tried the obvious steps and it's still off, let it go. A slightly-off sync nobody notices beats two more weeks of your life.

    4. I don't know what's in any of my files

    "video_final_FINAL_2.mp4" is not a filing system. Label clips before you touch the editor — who's in it, roughly what year, where. Future you, three edits deep, will not remember what "clip9" is. Neither will I, and I made that mistake plenty of times before I got strict about it.

    5. The old footage looks grainy and I want to clean it up

    Leave it. Grainy 1994 video is supposed to look like 1994 video. Sharpening filters and AI upscalers usually make it look worse, not better, kind of uncanny. Let old footage be what it is. That's a preference of mine, not a law, but it's a strong one.

    6. Nobody can hear what people are saying

    This is the one I'd fix before anything else if you're short on time. People forgive blurry photos. They stop watching a video they can't hear. If you only have energy to fix one thing, fix the audio, not the transitions.

    7. I lost my only copy of the footage

    Back it up before you edit, not after. I say this in class more than anything else and I'm not going to stop. Editing is the fun part. Backing up is the part that actually matters. If your only copy lives on one hard drive, you don't have a backup, you have a countdown.

    8. My video is thirty minutes long and nobody will watch it

    You don't have to use every clip just because you have it. A tight four minutes people actually finish beats a long one that sits unwatched. Cut harder than feels comfortable. It gets easier the second time.

    9. Someone in the video says something factually wrong

    Let small stuff go. But if a name or a date is wrong in a caption, it's wrong forever once you save it. I once corrected Teresa about which sister was in a photo — she was sure she was right, I checked, I wasn't wrong, and I still felt bad saying so. Say it anyway. Kindly, but say it.

    10. I'm stuck and don't know what the actual problem is

    Sometimes the "editing problem" is really a different problem. A student once brought me a mess of recital footage to fix, and the real issue was he'd never backed anything up in his life. We spent the whole session on that instead. He was annoyed. He also stopped losing videos. Ask what's actually broken before you try to fix what you think is broken.

    ---

    If none of these match your problem, bring your laptop to class and I'll look at it over your shoulder. That's usually faster than either of us guessing.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —so that's the whole tape, sideways, the entire funeral, and she'd already edited it.

    ALYSSA: The whole thing. Cut, trimmed, titled. And then I go to export and I finally look at it straight on and go, oh. Oh no.

    JESS: This is Alyssa Collins, everybody. She teaches Family History Video Projects, which starts up again next month, and I made her tell me the sideways tape story before we even turned the mics on properly, so.

    ALYSSA: You did. And now it's on the recording.

    JESS: That's the job. Okay, so, welcome. This is the first episode we're doing for the class, just kind of a preview of what people are walking into. Alyssa, tell people what this class actually is, because I don't think "video editing class" covers it.

    ALYSSA: It's not really a video editing class. I mean, it is, you'll learn the program. But mostly it's — you've got a shoe box of old tapes somewhere, or a bag of photos nobody labeled, and it bugs you. That's who shows up. People whose stuff is a mess and it bothers them.

    JESS: Which is you.

    ALYSSA: Which was me. My grandma passed four years ago and left a Ziploc bag of photos with nothing written on the back, and a bunch of mini DV tapes, and my mom couldn't tell me who half the people were. That bugged me more than I expected it to. So I taught myself.

    JESS: And now you teach other people.

    ALYSSA: Now I teach other people, badly at first, better now.

    JESS: I want you to tell the Teresa story. The sister one.

    ALYSSA: Oh — okay. So I was working on a project with Teresa, this was maybe two years ago, and there's a photo, three sisters, and Teresa's pointing at one going "that's Carol." And I'd looked at enough of her family's stuff by then that I said, so actually — I don't think that's Carol. I think that's Joan.

    JESS: And she was sure.

    ALYSSA: She was completely sure. It's her aunt. I get it. But I'd checked, I'd cross-referenced two other photos from the same year, same dress even, and I just — I felt bad saying it, because who am I, but the caption would've been wrong forever. Once you write it down and hand it to the grandkids, that's just true now, whether it's true or not.

    JESS: Was she mad?

    ALYSSA: A little annoyed. Then she went and asked her mom and it was Joan.

    JESS: See, that's the thing I like about how you teach this. It's not just "here's how to cut a clip." There's actual stakes.

    ALYSSA: There are. People don't think of it that way going in. They think it's a technical class. And it is, some of it. But the reason I'm serious about it is because you're the last stop before this stuff becomes permanent, or gets lost. Neither of those is small.

    JESS: Okay, give me something useful. Something a person listening right now could go do tonight, without taking the class.

    ALYSSA: Back up your originals before you touch anything. Tonight. Doesn't matter if it's a cloud thing or an external drive or emailing files to yourself, I don't care, just get a second copy of the original footage or photos somewhere that isn't the one device they're currently sitting on. I had a guy, Chad, come to me wanting help fixing his daughter's dance recital video, and the actual problem was he'd never backed up anything, ever. Phone breaks, it's gone. We spent way more time on backups than editing and he was a little annoyed about it, honestly, but he hasn't lost a video since.

    JESS: That's such a boring answer and I love it.

    ALYSSA: It's the least fun part and the most important part. Editing's the fun part. Editing's also the part where, if you mess up, you haven't lost anything, because the original's safe somewhere. That's the whole point.

    JESS: Okay. So next session, what are people actually doing? Walk me through it.

    ALYSSA: First real class, everybody brings their own footage or photos, whatever mess they've got. We don't use my tidy examples. We start with labeling files, which sounds boring and everyone wants to skip it, and I won't let them, because I've seen too many folders called "video final FINAL 2" where nobody remembers what's in any of them.

    JESS: Label everything before you touch the editor.

    ALYSSA: Before you touch the editor. Then we get into the actual free program I use, and I'll show people where it's limited and where it's plenty, because it's plenty for almost everybody.

    JESS: Alright. That's session two. This has been episode one, I'm Jess, this is Alyssa, we'll be back before the class starts with one more of these.

    ALYSSA: And I'll try to have a less embarrassing story ready.

    JESS: Don't you dare. See everyone next time.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —and that's the part people don't expect, that the hardest step isn't the editing.

    ALYSSA: Right. Everybody thinks they're going to sit down and struggle with the software. That's not usually where it falls apart.

    JESS: So where does it fall apart.

    ALYSSA: Backups. Every time. I had a guy in class a while back, Chad, he came in wanting help fixing his daughter's dance recital footage. Color was off, shaky, whatever. And I start looking at his files and I ask him, okay, where's this stored besides your phone. And he just looks at me.

    JESS: Uh oh.

    ALYSSA: One copy. On a phone he'd already almost dropped in a toilet once, he told me that part unprompted. So I stopped what we were doing and spent the whole session on backups instead. External drive, a cloud folder, the works. He was annoyed. I could tell. He came for editing tips and got a lecture.

    JESS: Did he say he was annoyed?

    ALYSSA: He didn't have to. But here's the thing, he stopped losing videos. That's the whole point. I'd rather someone leave irritated with three copies of their footage than happy with one.

    JESS: That's basically your whole philosophy in one story.

    ALYSSA: Pretty much. Editing's the fun part. It's also the least important part. If the original file's gone, there's no amount of clever cutting that brings it back.

    JESS: Okay, give the podcast people something they can use today. Something that doesn't require signing up for the class.

    ALYSSA: Sure. Before you do anything else with a video file — before you trim it, before you even watch the whole thing — put a copy of it somewhere that isn't the device that shot it. Doesn't have to be fancy. An external drive from Costco, a free cloud folder, even emailing it to yourself works in a pinch. I check that my stuff is in at least two places before I let myself have fun with it.

    JESS: Two places minimum.

    ALYSSA: Two places minimum. I say it so often in class people start saying it back to me before I finish the sentence.

    JESS: I believe that. Okay, so last time you talked about labeling files. This time's backups. What's session three?

    ALYSSA: Audio. We're doing a whole session just on sound.

    JESS: Just audio, no picture stuff?

    ALYSSA: Just audio. People think the picture is the important part and honestly it isn't, not as much as they think. If a video's a little blurry, people forgive that, especially if it's old footage. Grandma in 1994 was never going to look like 4K and trying to force it just makes it look wrong anyway. But if you can't hear what somebody's saying, people click away. Every time.

    JESS: So what are we covering.

    ALYSSA: How to record decent sound in a normal living room, what to do about background noise you can't avoid, and a little bit on interview mic placement, because half the people bringing footage to this class are also going to be the ones holding the phone during Thanksgiving asking Grandpa questions.

    JESS: Which, speaking of interviews —

    ALYSSA: You want the Briggs story.

    JESS: I do.

    ALYSSA: So I was recording an interview, one of my kids' friends, Briggs, walks into the room mid-session. Little kid. He looks at the microphone and asks me, real serious, if the dead people can hear him.

    JESS: Oh no.

    ALYSSA: I paused the mic. I didn't laugh at him, he wasn't trying to be funny. I just answered him honestly, told him what I actually think, which took a minute. And it ended up being a better conversation than the interview I'd stopped to have it.

    JESS: Did you get it on tape?

    ALYSSA: No, and I'm glad I didn't, actually. Some things are better left just as a memory of the day instead of a clip. That's a preference, not a rule. Other people might disagree with me on that one.

    JESS: Okay. Audio session, next time. Bring your own footage, bring your own questions.

    ALYSSA: And bring headphones if you've got them. You hear problems in your audio a lot faster with headphones than with a laptop speaker. I check mine every time before I trust a recording.

    JESS: Good tip. Alright, that's it for this one.

    ALYSSA: See everyone next session.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —so that's when Chad finally understood why you'd been asking him about it for twenty minutes.

    ALYSSA: He was annoyed with me. I could tell. He just wanted his daughter's recital footage cleaned up, and I kept asking "okay but where's the original file, though, like where does it live."

    JESS: And where did it live.

    ALYSSA: Nowhere. It lived on the SD card. That was it. One copy, one card, and his daughter's four years old, so.

    JESS: So there's a lot of recitals ahead of him.

    ALYSSA: Right, and if that card fails, it's gone. So I stopped editing and just taught him about backups for like half an hour. He did not sign up for that class. He signed up for "fix my video."

    JESS: Did he forgive you.

    ALYSSA: Eventually. He stopped losing videos, which is the actual win. I don't need him to like the lesson, I need him to have the files in two years.

    JESS: This is basically your whole thing, isn't it. Backup first, edit second.

    ALYSSA: It's the one thing I'll repeat until people are sick of me. Editing's fun. Editing is also the least important part of any of this. If you lose the originals, the fun part doesn't matter, because there's nothing left to be fun with.

    JESS: Okay, give me the tip. Something somebody could do tonight, no class required.

    ALYSSA: Tonight, before you touch anything else — go find your old tapes, your phone footage, whatever, and just get one extra copy of it somewhere that isn't the device it's currently on. Doesn't have to be fancy. An external drive, a cloud folder, even email it to yourself if the file's small enough. I don't care how. I care that there's a second copy that isn't sitting on the same phone or camera or card that could die tomorrow.

    JESS: That's it.

    ALYSSA: That's it. That's the whole tip. It's not glamorous. Nobody's excited about backups. But I've seen what happens when people skip it, and it's always the same conversation, and it's always sad.

    JESS: Okay, last week you had us laughing about Briggs and the dead people question. What's the one for this episode.

    ALYSSA: This one's about my grandma's photos, actually. So none of them had dates on the back. Nothing. Just loose photos in a bag.

    JESS: Classic.

    ALYSSA: Classic. And I'm trying to figure out which house is in this one photo, because that tells me roughly what year it is. And I've got this home movie from around the same era, and I'm watching it back — and I notice the wallpaper. In the background of the movie. Same wallpaper as behind my grandma in the photo.

    JESS: You matched it by wallpaper.

    ALYSSA: I matched it by wallpaper. Which meant I knew the house, which meant I knew the year, roughly, because I knew when they moved. I was so proud of myself. Told my mom. She was like, okay, cool, sure.

    JESS: Nobody else cared.

    ALYSSA: Nobody else cared even a little bit. But I knew. I'd checked it against two other photos in that same room, so I wasn't just guessing off one thing. It held up.

    JESS: See, this is the part people don't expect going into a video class. Half of it is detective work.

    ALYSSA: It's mostly detective work, honestly. The editing software just organizes what you already figured out.

    JESS: Alright, so next session — what are we doing.

    ALYSSA: Next time we get into audio. Cleaning up old sound, dealing with tape hiss, figuring out what's worth fixing and what you just let be old. Bring whatever's got the worst sound in your pile. If it's bad, that's actually more useful to me than something clean.

    JESS: You want the broken stuff.

    ALYSSA: I want the broken stuff. That's where people learn something. Bring your worst tape.

    JESS: On that note.

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